The Place Where Water and Fire Meet
by incandescentlight
Summary: The Gaang never travelled together. Each member had very different experiences in the war. Zuko is crowned Fire Lord and Katara returns to the Southern Water Tribe to rebuild. What happens when Zuko is being pressured into a political marriage and Katara arrives as a potential Fire Lady? Sparks fly. AU Katara/Zuko
1. 1

Katara was quiet as she stared out across the white, glimmering plains of ice that stretched on for miles in every direction. It wasn't often that she had a moment alone and she was enjoying the peace the cold tundra outside her village offered while she could.

Earlier in the morning, a messenger hawk bearing the insignia of the Fire Lord had reached her remote, snowy village and she had spent the better part of the day trying to escape the contents of the letter it carried. At first, she had been elated to see the letter from her brother Sokka, who had been away in the Fire Nation as a Water Tribe ambassador for the past six months. But, that elation had soon turned to dread and even anger the further she had read through the letter. Inside, her brother had detailed his every day activities in the Fire Nation and his homesickness for the South Pole. Apparently, there was nowhere to get a "good piece of seal jerky." She had laughed and rolled her eyes as a wave of loneliness had rolled through her.

Though Sokka could make her madder than anyone she had ever met, he had also always been the one constant in her life. When her mother had died and her father had gone off to fight in the war, Sokka had been there to take the place of both her parents. When they had both decided to join the war effort at 14 and 15, Sokka had been there to help her become the formidable warrior she was today. This was the longest they had ever been separated and she longed to be by his side again. However, she didn't know if she could do what he was asking from her. The end part of his letter had been an invitation directly from Fire Lord Zuko himself to the "Princess" of the Southern Water Tribe. Again, she had rolled her eyes at the usage of such a royal title for a position that she didn't even think existed. Though her father was the Chieftain of her small tribe, they had never had the luxury or time to conduct fancy ceremonies or receive special treatment. Her life had consisted of survival and doing all she could to help her people endure the hardships of the icy tundra and the cruelty of a world at war.

In his message, the Fire Lord had extended an offer to stay in the Capital City at the Royal Palace to her and all the young, unmarried highborn women throughout the Earth Kingdom and Water Nations. It did not escape her notice of who exactly this invitation was extended to. She knew that at the age of 21, it was time for the Fire Lord to choose a bride and secure his line through an heir. She had never personally met the new Fire Lord, but had learned bits and pieces of him through the monthly letters she received from Sokka. She knew that he had aided the Avatar in overthrowing his father, Fire Lord Ozai, and also his sister, Princess Azula. She knew that he had a disfiguring red scar on one side of his face and that it was his own father who had given it to him. She also knew that Sokka considered him a friend and that was saying a lot coming from her sometimes prejudiced brother. So although she didn't know him, she was able to appreciate his strategy in procuring a bride outside of his own nation. With the joining of the Fire Lord and a high ranking woman from the Earth or Water Kingdoms, he would also be securing his Nation's political ties.

But that woman would not be her. It was not her desire or destiny to go on display for the Fire Lord, amongst a group of perfect future wives and mothers, waiting to be chosen like the ripest lychee nut at the market. Nor that she thought she would be chosen. She was not a self-conscious woman, but she was aware of how she compared to the prim and proper noble women of the Earth Kingdom and even of her sister tribe. No, she had never had the luxury of being a blushing maiden. Instead, she was a ferocious warrior, a master waterbender and a fierce protector of her people. Her desire for her life was to help to rebuild her tribe and to train a new generation of Southern waterbenders. Being forced into a political marriage did not fit into any of her goals or hopes for the future.

Despite her hesitation, she knew that she would go. Not because she had any desire to become a decoration on the arm of one of the most powerful men in the world, but because her brother had asked her. Any irritation or anger she felt at being treated like an object was washed away when she envisioned her reunion with Sokka. She had no intention of entertaining or impressing the Fire Lord, but she could not pass up this chance to see her brother again after so long.

With that thought in mind, she pulled her fur-lined hood over her head and turned back towards her village. The whole trek home, she resolved herself to inform her father of her upcoming trip to the Fire Nation. She hoped that he would understand.

\--

Her father had taken the news better than she had expected. She knew that he still had difficulty acknowledging that she wasn't the little girl he had left on the shoreline all those years ago. It had taken time for their strained relationship to heal once they both returned from the war, but she felt that they had made great progress towards healing over the past year.

"I know you ask me if you can go out of respect and not because you'll listen to my answer," Hakoda smiles knowingly at her.

"I do listen to what you say, Dad! But I haven't seen Sokka in so long and if going to the Fire Nation is what I have to do to see him then I will!"

Her father's smile wavers and she sees his eyes cloud with grief as he strokes his hand down the side of her face and to the circular pendant sitting at the base of her throat. "You have so much of your mother's spirit in you," he says with a bitter sweetness she can taste in the air. She grabs his hand and holds it tight between hers.

"I won't be gone forever and under no circumstance would the Fire Lord even consider me as a prospective marriage partner. He's probably only invited me to satisfy his advisors. There's no danger in me going to stay with Sokka for a few months. I'll be back before the winter snows come."

She smirks, "And besides, someone has to make sure that Sokka hasn't started a new war with the Fire Nation over which type of meat is best." Her father throws his head back and laughs before training familiar blue eyes on her again.

"I have no doubt that you, Master Waterbender, will be fine and return to us in one piece. I am more concerned with how I will cope with both my children gone from my side again. We were only together for such a short time and I don't know how I will survive our separation." The melancholy begins to seep back into his eyes and Katara is quick to pull him into a tight embrace.

"You'll be busy with all that has to be done around here and both Sokka and I will be back before you know it," she mumbles into his parka covered chest. She breathes in the familiar scent of oil and sea water and pulls him closer. She feels his hand come to rest on the back of her head before she feels him sigh.

"Don't listen to me Katara, your father is growing sentimental in his old age." She looks up to see him smiling again at her, the grief still lingering in his eyes, but clearing the longer he looks at her. "You and your brother are my greatest gifts and I know that you long to be with him again. I cannot forbid you to go, even if the thought of you being in the presence of a Fire Lord makes me want to tie you down so you can never leave."

"Dad, you don't have to worry about that. He'll probably think I'm there as a servant to Princess Yue or another Northern noble," she grins up at him.

Hakoda shakes his head in disapproval while trying to hide his smile. "Go daughter and prepare for your journey before I change my mind. I will collect some of the men that we can spare to see you to the Palace."

Katara nods quickly and turns to go to her tent, stopping when she feels her father's hand on her shoulder. She turns around and sees her father staring seriously at her.

"Katara, you may not have grown up in a palace of glassy ice or known a life of abundance like the women of the Northern tribe, but in that suffering you have been given a far greater gift. You understand the needs of your people come before your own and you have gone to war and back to protect them. There is no greater quality that a ruler could possess and the Fire Lord would be lucky to have such a woman rule by his side." Hakoda smiles, "Though I don't think any man, even a Fire Lord, will ever be worthy of you."

"Dad," Katara blushes while shaking her head. He winks at her and she quickly kisses his cheek before hurrying off to her tent. Though she doesn't let him see, Hakoda's words have meant more to her than any gift she has ever received and his words fill her with an immense pride.

Alone in her tent, Katara takes a moment to glance at herself in the mirror, her father's words ringing in her ears. Where once a rounded girl's face had been, now a defined woman's face stares back at her. Her cheekbones are high and her ocean colored eyes stand out amongst the expanse of mocha colored skin. Her dark hair has grown long down her back, but she still has her two hair loops, pulled back by precious beads her brother had carved her. Her mother's pendant still sits on her neck and she likes to think that at 19 she has begun to look more and more like the woman she so desperately misses. She critically assesses her body and sees the rounded hips and full chest that most of the women in her tribe possess. She knows that her body does not look like the slim and delicate women of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, but her body is built to withstand the harshness of her home.

Katara has never taken much time to worry about her appearance. She has always been more concerned with the day to day activities of survival. But, she recognizes that though she may not look like the other women she will be forced to spend the summer with, she possesses a sort of exotic look that cannot be denied.

She rolls her eyes at herself for wasting time thinking about such superficial things, before beginning the arduous task of packing for the next few months. Hopefully, in the morning she will be on her way to the Fire Nation and to her brother. Her excitement keeps her packing late into the night.


	2. Chapter2

Katara stands on the stern of the small Water Tribe ship, her mitten covered hands gripping the railing tightly. A small group of people from her village gather on the shoreline, their hands raised in goodbye. Positioned in front of them all, she can see her father, hand outstretched to her as if she is tied to an invisible rope he can yank back to him. She can just make out his face, a mixture of sadness and pride, before he becomes a tiny blue speck on the white horizon. She continues to wave until her arm aches with exertion and her tiny village is hidden from view by the giant icy glacier crags. She lets her hand fall to her side with a sigh and turns to face the handful of men that have volunteered to accompany her to the Fire Nation. Her father's most trusted friend and her godfather, Bato, approaches her with a smile.

"Your father would have joined us if he did not have so many responsibilities to look after at home," he says, while grasping her shoulder affectionately.

"I know," she nods. "It would have taken him a month to make the trip there and back and that is far too long for the Chief to be gone. Especially with all that needs to be done this summer in preparation for winter."

Bato's eyes twinkle, "Well, I hope you can make due with me as his replacement for the next two weeks."

Katara laughs as she replies, "He snores like a tiger seal. Anything is better than being stuck on a tiny ship with him!"

Bato joins her laughter, "That is the one thing about him that made me dream of pushing him overboard a time or two during our journey in the war. Instead, we would make him sleep above deck so that we could all get a full night's sleep."

Katara continues to smile in mirth as Bato grasps both her shoulders and gently steers her towards the side of the boat.

"Now Katara," Bato grins, "show us the benefits of traveling with a Master Waterbender."

She nods, while the other men on board draw their oars from the water. She raises her arms, takes a deep breath, and begins to feel the push and pull of the ocean. She lets it lull her for a moment, before she grasps onto that feeling and starts to move her arms rhythmically from left to right. She feels the boat cut quickly through the calm sea and smiles as they pick up speed. She can hear the shouts of glee from the men behind her as they realize they won't have to oar the whole way to the Fire Nation. She won't be able to bend them there all by herself, but knows that they will appreciate her using her bending as much as she is able to reduce their burden. She allows herself a small smile, before submerging herself again into the murky depths of her element.

\--

Two weeks later, Katara sits on the bow of the boat, her eyes closed and her face upturned towards the sun. It is rare for her to feel its warmth so keenly and she soaks in its rays hungrily. Though she knows logically that the sun keeps all the nations of the world warm with its gaze, it oftentimes favors its children of fire and hides behind clouds of gray at her home. She can tell by the increase in humidity and the strength of the sun that they have crossed into Fire Nation waters and will soon be docking.

She hears a throat clear behind her and turns her head to see Kesuk, one of the Water Tribe warriors accompanying her, standing. "Excuse me, Master Katara, but Bato wanted me to inform you that we will be arriving soon if you would like to prepare."

"Thank you, Kesuk," she smiles before climbing back down onto the deck of the boat. She nods towards the man, before making her way down into the living quarters of the ship and to her bags. She rolls her eyes as she realizes the meaning behind Bato's message, which was a thinly veiled way of telling her to make herself presentable.

She opens one of her bags and pulls out a dark blue silk gown. Though she knows that it will be nowhere near as grand as the gowns she is sure that the other women will arrive in, it is special to her because it was her mother's. She looks around quickly to make sure that none of the men have found their way down, before removing her dress. She tightens her sarashi wraps before sliding the silky garment on. It ties at her waist with a crisp white belt and she knots the belt before turning to look at the only small mirror aboard the ship. The kimono sleeves billow out and she likes the way they move when she walks. The dress is simple but she thinks it is the simplicity that makes it so beautiful. She quickly runs her comb through her hair and leaves it down except for her two hair loops which she pulls back with the decorative beads from her brother. The only jewelry she wears is her mother's necklace, which she thinks is enough. She looks in the mirror again, before deciding she is presentable and makes her way back up to the deck of the ship.

Bato is the first to greet her with a bittersweet smile, "Katara, you look more and more like Kya every day."

"Thank you Bato," she says quietly. She looks away from his gaze, uncomfortable with the pity she can see lurking there and gasps in surprise as she notices their little boat is just about to dock at the Fire Nation's main port. She feels her stomach jump a little with nerves before she steels herself. She moves to the bow of the boat, her eyes eagerly searching for her brother through the crowds of people dressed in reds, blacks and golds. She begins to grow frustrated as she fails to spot him, before her heart gives a lurch as she sees a glimpse of dark blue emerge from the fiery crowd. She squints, struggling to see as their boat comes closer and closer to shore, before she hears a shout of joy.

"KATARA!"

She spins around wildly, her eyes seeking him out, before her brother finally emerges with a big grin from the crowd. She begins waving madly, feeling like her cheeks will split from the strength of her own grin. She impatiently waits for the men to dock the ship and lower the gangplank before rushing down it, her skirts raised to her knees. He is waiting at the end, his arms wide open. She rushes into them, gripping him as hard as she can.

"Wow Katara you got strong," Sokka jokes as she squeezes him harder.

"And you didn't get any funnier," she says into his chest. She doesn't want to look at him quite yet because the lump in her throat and the tears in her eyes are hard to hide. She thinks he understands though, because he grips her a little tighter too.

She finally releases him, just enough to tilt her head back and take in his face. He is smiling down at her, his face clean shaven, and his hair pulled back in its usual wolf tail. He looks older, but still the same and she finally allows one tear to escape. He chuckles as he wipes it away and she notices he seems a bit more choked up than usual as well.

"Well, well, well, look what the polar bear dog dragged in," she hears Bato say behind her. Sokka laughs as he releases her and pulls Bato into a tight embrace.

"I knew you missed me old man!"

Katara sees Bato roll his eyes with barely contained mirth, before Sokka is off to enthusiastically greet the rest of the warriors coming down the gang plank. She looks around curiously and notes that many of the Fire Nation citizens have stopped to stare at the very out of place Water Tribe ship and passengers. She notices that many of the faces looking back at her are not friendly and has to force herself to remember that she is not allowed to water whip whoever looks at her the wrong way. It is often easy to forget in her tiny part of the world that not everybody was happy about the end of the war. But, for now, she will ignore the glares she is receiving and focus on her family being together again.

After Sokka is done greeting the men from home, he quickly makes his way back to her side. "So, Bato has decided to bring your bags up to the palace and then he and the rest of the men will stay the night before starting their journey back home tomorrow morning."

Katara turns to look at Bato, to make sure he doesn't need her help, before he smiles and makes a shooing motion at her.

Sokka sees this and throws his arm around her shoulder. "Come on Katara, I can't wait to show you the palace! It's just like what we used to imagine when we would build snow forts at home when we were kids. I also got you the room with the best view of the royal gardens, right next to mine. One of those Earth flunkies was scheming for it, but Zuko likes me more."

Katara tosses her head back and laughs as she imagines her brother passionately listing the reasons why his sister deserves the best room over the other visiting women to the Fire Lord. Sokka keeps his arm tight around her as he pulls her through the crowd and towards the road that she assumes will lead them to the palace.

"Zuko offered to have a carriage bring us from the port back to the palace, but I thought after a couple of weeks at sea you'd much rather walk."

"You were right, my legs feel like seaweed right now," Katara grumbles.

"Don't worry little sister, your sea legs will wear off eventually," Sokka chuckles. "Now get a move on! I want to show you your room and the grounds and the food selection and everything before the welcome dinner tonight."

She shakes her head at her brother, a smile tugging at her lips. His energy is infectious and she is glad to be reunited with him once again. She isn't sure what this summer will bring, but she knows that this time with Sokka is priceless and worth whatever obstacles she may face.

**Next chapter she meets Zuko! Please review :)**


End file.
